1. field of the Invention
Loads of all kinds have to be handled in storage warehouses at great height with or without racks, and the main object of the invention is to provide an installation for such handling especially when the layout of the warehouse has to be frequently modified.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Among the known types of handling installations served by gangways giving passage to rolling trucks or units equipped with carrying, lifting and stacking means for loads, it has already been proposed to cause the units or trucks to run on rails in the gangways, so as to avoid wear on the floor and to relieve the driver of steering operations in the gangways, but in this case they are unable to leave the gangways by their own devices (this is the general case as regards transporting robot devices), or even to use the vertical surface of a section member in cooperation with rollers having vertical shafts fast with the trucks as guiding means. However, these means do not ensure the stability of the truck.
I have disclosed in my French Utility Certificate No. 2.096.846 how to cause removable means connected to the truck and capable of extending laterally, to bear either on a fixed frame or on the ground. These arrangements ensure the lateral stability of the truck, but they have the disadvantage of being only capable of being used with the stopping of the truck, previously brought into a precise position in relation to the loading locations to be served, and in addition of not preventing the longitudinal rocking of the truck under load.
However, a guiding or steering arrangement is known, of which the rollers have vertical shafts, which arrangement can prevent the rocking action by the rollers being held by their rim beneath a horizontal strip. However, in this blocked position, the rollers are unable to turn and any movement of the truck is excluded, as when it is locked on a fixed frame or on the ground.